A Time To Every Purpose Under Heaven: a novel of the nature of angels and the ways of man

It’s the 1560s and Antinous Bellori, a boy of 11, is exploring the woods above his home in the north Italian mountains when night falls. Suddenly fearful, the boy wanders blindly through the trees, sensing danger at every turn, until he comes, unseen, upon a clearing in which there stand two glowing beings, one carrying a spear, the other a flaming torch…

This event is decisive in Bellori’s life, just as encounters with angels have been for others throughout history. Beginning in the Garden of Eden and soaring right through to the present day, we revisit key moments when men have come face to face with these intermediaries of the divine: Cain and Abel cultivating their differences murderously; Lot’s shame in Sodom; Noah’s isolation before the Flood; Ezekiel tied to his bed, prophesying fiercely; and the death of Christ.

Alighting upon these dramatic scenes – from the Bible and beyond – Knausgaard’s imagination takes flight: the result is a dazzling display of storytelling at its majestic, spellbinding best.